From Fort Pierre to Fort Randall: the Army's First Use of Portable Cottages

From Fort Pierre to Fort Randall: The Army's First Use of Portable Cottages

Timothy R. Nowak

In his memoirs, a former soldier who had been garrisoned at Fort Pierre Chouteau on the upper Missouri River lamented about the experimental portable bamacks tliat had housed the men during tlie harsh winter of 1855-1856. Augustus Meyers, a musician witli Com- pany D, Second United States Infantry, recalled with some contempt, ">XTioever designed these cardboard houses—for they proved to be but little better—liad but a small conception of the requirements of that ciimate. The winters were long, with deep snow and frequent blizzards. The architea of these shelters was indirectly the cause of much suffering,"' Meyers had been a member of Brevet Brigadier General William S. Hame/s Sioux expedition, launched 28 May 1855 to punish the bands of Lakota. or westem Sioux, Indians that had been harassing emigrants along the Platte River Road. The expedition, which culmi- nated in the Battle of Blue Water Creek in Nebraska Territory, was the first major military operation against the Lakotas on the Northem Great Plains.- Hamey's men then moved on to the old Missouri River trading post of Fort Pierre Chouteau, which the War Department had purchased from the American Fur Company to serve as headquar- ters for the anny's future management of the region. Although it is the chronicle of the September 1855 battle and Hameys subsequent h Fort Pierre that define the Sioux expedition, the story of the

1. Augustus Meyers, "DaktKa in the Fifties." South Dakota Historical Collections 10 (1920): 135. 2. For a good SLiinmary of ilie Sioux expedition, see Richmond L. Clow. "GeiK-ral William S, Hame>' on the Northt-m PiairLs," South Dakota History \t (Fall I9K6): 229-48. Copyright © 2002 by the South Dakota State Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.

96 South Dakota History Vol. 32, no. 2

troops' experiences with their "cardboard houses" die following winter makes this episode even more singular and fascinating. Tlie arcliitect whose structures caused Harney s men so much suffering was Captain Parmenas T Tumley (Figure 1), assistant quar- temiaster for the Sioux expedition. Bom in Dandridge, Tennessee, in 1821, Tumley had entered tlie LJnited States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1842. He graduated in July 1846, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the Second Infantry just in time to serve in the War widi Mexico. In Mexico, as part of the Fii-st Infantry, he was involved in the siege of Vera Cruz in March 1847 and remained on duty in Mexico City and Cuemavaca until 1848.-' After die close of die Mexican War, Turnley continued his frontier duty in Texas and New Mexico.

i. HighlantlParii(lü.JPress. 27 Apr. 19U,Gœtf^\e.Cu\\um.comp..Bic^r^icatRegisterofthe Officers; and Gnuluutes ofthe V. S. Military Acadenty al West Point. N Y.. from tts Fstahiishmetit. in 1802, to 1890. 3 voLs. (New York: Hougliton. .Uifflin & Co,, 1891), 2: 287,

Summer 2002 Portable Cottages 97

It was while garrisoned upon the treeless plains and scrul>desert regions of die southwestern border c<^untry that Tumley realized the need ibr some type of portable sheiter diat wouid be more SLibsUin- tial than the army's common canvas tent. He and the other troops gLiarding against Indian incursions along the Rio Grande and other ¡")arts of die vast frontier lived for montlis and eve